Placements are up and unemployment is down, according to the latest recruitment industry findings.

Recruiters responding to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG Report on Jobs said that they had experienced a continued growth in permanent staff placements, albeit a modest one. This represents the 25th consecutive month of expansion. Temp billings also maintained their upward trajectory, though also at a slower rate than in previous months.

The report revealed that the number of people out of work has fallen by 115,000 to 1.96 million too, though as a result, recruiters have found that the availability of staff has similarly dropped, recruiter.co.uk writes. The professions topping the ‘in demand’ list included engineering, IT & computing, accounting/financial and executive/professional.

KPMG’s partner and head of business services, Bernard Brown, said that though the news remained positive, salaries needed to pick up if the economy was to grow. Permanent pay rates “eased for the fourth month running to reach its slowest since February”, the report said.

Speaking about the findings to onrec.com, he said: “We are still seeing a slowdown in salary growth and while the reins are being pulled on take home pay, the economy will continue to trot along, rather than gallop.

“Our own research suggests that companies want to pay more – they need to if they are to recruit the best talent – but until they can afford to do so we will be stuck in a cycle which sees jobs going unfilled. It’s too easy to expect people to accept jobs despite the low pay on offer, when the truth is that they need to earn a wage that gives them enough to live on. If we are to tackle long-term unemployment a balance must be found between what employers can afford to pay and what employees can afford to live on.”